The Book of Isaiah
Introduction to The Book

The purpose of this work is to guide you in Spirit Filled interpretation of this "Selected Study". As necessary we will provide outlines, historical backgrounds, note the purpose and focus of the text, and also provide the original hebrew language definitions for the key words in the highlighted text. The English translation used is the King James (Authorized) Version, not because it is the best translation available, but because I just plain prefer it for study!

All Scripture text will be presented in normal cased lettering, and all notes within the text will be in TRUE TYPE FONT, as shown. This (I hope) will allow you to avoid confusion between God's Word and my notes. As I update this website, I will continue to embellish the text so that anyone using NETSCAPE 3.0 or MICROSOFT 3.0 or higher will be able to read the document easier.
 

An excellent site to study Biblical Hebrew is by Lee R. Martin, Biblical Hebrew. The following are excerpts from his Hebrew Dictionary (if you want more, go to his site):

ABSOLUTE: In Hebrew Greek grammar, a word is absolute when it stands independently and has no grammatical relation to other elements in the sentence. The most common instance in Greek is the genitive absolute.

ABSOLUTE STATE: The Hebrew absolute together with a word in the construct state expresses the genitive. Do not confuse with the infinitive absolute. Heb: king (absolute); horse of (construct) the king (absolute), i.e., the king's horse (genitive).

ACCIDENCE: That part of grammar that treats inflection; a subcategory of morphology.

ACCUSATIVE CASE: A substantive used as the direct object of a transitive verb is said to be in the accusative case. In Greek, the accusative is the case of extension. Heb: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). Gk: "He gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).

ACCUSATIVE ENDING: In Hebrew see DIRECTIVE h.

ACTIVE VOICE: In the active voice, the subject is the doer of the action that is expressed by the verb.

AKTIONSART: German for "kind of action."

ANARTHROUS: A word that appears without the article is anarthrous.

ARAMAIC: A branch of the northwest Semitic languages that is closely related to Hebrew. In the OT Masoretic text, Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26; Dan. 2:4b-7:28; and Jer. 10:11 are in Aramaic rather than Hebrew. Aramaic had become the common language of the Jewish people by NT times.

CASE: Case shows the grammatical relation of inflected forms such as nouns and pronouns to other words (nominative, possessive, objective cases).

CAUSATIVE VERB: A transitive verb that can be said to cause the action depicted in a corresponding intransitive verb. Ex: lay ("cause to lie") is the causative of lie; raise, the causative of rise.

DIRECT OBJECT: The word, phrase, or clause that is the primary goal or result of the action of the verb (cf. accusative case); the person or thing is directly affected by the action of the verb. Heb: "God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). Gr: "He grabbed him and began to choke him" (Matt. 18:28).

GENITIVE: The case that expresses possession or specifies a relationship that can be expressed in English by "of." In Hebrew this is called a construct relationship. The Greek genitive is the specifying case answering the question "What kind?" Heb: "the expanse of the sky" (Gen. 1:21). Gk: "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Mark 1:4).

GUTTURALS: The mute consonants whose sounds are produced when the front of the tongue approaches the palate of the mouth. Four letters in Hebrew, a h j and [ are the guttural letters (r has some guttural characteristics). Hebrew gutturals cannot be doubled, prefer a-class vowels, and composite shevas. In Greek, the guttural letters are g k and c also called velars, laryngeals, or palatals.

HITHPAEL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses intensive or emphatic action (classified by some grammars as causative action) and reflexive voice. For this emphasis in Greek, middle voice. Heb: "A group of adventurers gathered around [lit., gathered themselves around] him" (Judg. 11:3).

HOPHAL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses causative action and passive voice. Heb: "Let seven of his male descendants be given [hophal] to us" (2 Sam. 21:6).

IMPERATIVE: A verb or verbal mood that expresses command or makes a request.

IMPERFECT: In Hebrew, the form of the verb used to express action that is incomplete or unfinished. Heb: "What if they do not believe me" (Exod. 4:1). The Greek imperfect tense expresses incomplete, linear action in past time. Gk: "People were eating and drinking..." (Luke 17:28). Other regular uses of the tense include iterative, frequentative, inceptive, and conative.

INFINITIVE: A verbal noun that has characteristics of both verbs and nouns. In English usually introduced by to. Hebrew has both infinitive absolute and infinitive construct forms. Heb: "I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land" (Gen. 15:7). The Greek infinitive is used as a substantive, in subordinate clauses, with prepositions, and in epexegesis. Gk: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21).

INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE: A form of the Hebrew infinitive that may function in a number of ways: to express certainty or intensification ("you will surely die," Gen. 2:17); to express repeated or continued action ("Be ever hearing," Isa. 6:9); as a finite verb ("They...broke the jars," Judg. 7:19); to express an emphatic imperative ("Remember the Sabbath day," Exod. 20:8).

MASORETIC TEXT: The vocalized text of the Hebrew Bible, prepared by a group of Jewish scholars around A.D. 700 to preserve the oral pronunciation of the Hebrew words.

MOOD: Mood indicates the manner in which the action is conceived (or its relation to reality). Moods are indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and optative. Mood may be expressed by finite verbs in Greek and by various means (form, words, or context) in Hebrew. Mode.

NIPHAL: A verbal form (stem) in Hebrew that expresses simple action and passive or reflexive voice. Heb: "She was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah" (1 Sam. 18:19).

OPTATIVE MOOD: The mood of possibility and more doubtful assertion that expresses wish or desire. See also jussive and cohortative. Heb: "If only we had died in Egypt!" (Num. 14:2). Gk: "Maythe Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance" (2 Thess. 3:5).

PARTICIPLE: A verbal form that has characteristics of both noun and verb. In Hebrew it represents characteristic, continual, uninterrupted action. Heb: "The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters" (Gen. 1:2). The Greek participle is widely used as a substantive, adjective, and adverb in phrases and clauses. Gk:"...in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him" (1 Peter 1:21).

PARTICLE: A unit of speech that is ranked as an uninflected word but expresses some kind of syntactical relationship or some general aspect of meaning. Some grammarians classify all conjunctions, prepositions, and negatives as particles.

PASSIVE VOICE: A voice form of the verb that represents the subject as receiver of the action. Heb: "This land was given to us as our possession" (Ezek. 11:15). Gk: "You were marked in him with a seal" (Eph. 1:13).

PERFECT/PERFECT TENSE: In Hebrew, this form of the verb is used to express completed action, whether in reality or in the thought of the speaker or writer. Heb: rm'v; is a perfect form of the verb and would be translated "he guarded." The Greek perfect tense, by contrast, represents a state of completion with abiding results and is often translated as a present perfect. Gk: The perfect leluke would be rendered "he has released."

PIEL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses intensive or emphatic action and active voice. Heb: "They destroyed the high places and the altars" (2 Chron. 31:1).

PREPOSITION: A word that shows relationships between its object and some other word in the sentence. Some common English prepositions are in, to, from, with, above, for, by.

PRETERITE: A Latin name for the past tense; it is the equivalent of the perfect in Hebrew and the aorist indicative in Greek.

PUAL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses intensive or emphatic action and passive voice. Heb: "There was Baal's altar, demolished" (Judg. 6:28).

QAL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses simple action and active voice; it is sometimes spelled Kal. Ex:"Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew" (Gen.25:34).

REFLEXIVE VOICE: Denotes an action that is directed back upon the agent or subject; expressed in Hebrew by the niphal and the hithpael, in Greek by the middle voice.Heb: "I have...kept myself from sin" (Ps. 18:23). Gk: "Then he went away and hanged himself" (Matt. 27:5).

ROOT: That part of a word left when all affixes are removed; the morpheme that carries the minimal unit of meaning in a word and can be common to several different words. The three consonants in Hebrew that ordinarily compose the basic uninflected spelling of a word are called the root letters. Occasionally a Hebrew word may have two or four root letters. Gk: the root dik- is common to dikaio", "righteous," dikh, "justice," and dikaiow, "to acquit." Also called "Lexeme."

STATIVE VERB, STATIC VERB: A stative verb is one that indicates a state of being or relationship rather than action. In Hebrew, its vowel pattern is different from that of verbs of action or motion. Greek statives include eijmi, ginomai, and uJparcw. Heb: "the hands...will be strengthened (2 Sam. 16:21). Gk: "Who, being in very nature God" (Phil. 2:6).

STEM: The noun or verb base formed by the addition of derivational affixes to the root. Thus, in Greek, doro- is the stem of the noun doron, "gift"; do- is the root, ro is the affix (in this case, a suffix). Also called base in recent grammars. In Hebrew, the term is used to designate verb forms that express certain kinds of action and voice; the major Hebrew verbal stems are qal, niphal, piel, pual, hithpael, hiphil, and hophal.

STRONG VERB: In Hebrew, the regular verb whose stem consonants do not change, i.e., remain unmodified in conjugation, in contrast to the weak verb. In Greek, a tense stem formed from the verb stem or root itself by vowel gradation.

VOICE: Voice is a modification of a verb that tells whether the subject of the verb acts or is acted upon. There are three voices in English, Hebrew, and Greek: active, passive, and reflexive.

WEAK VERB: In Hebrew, the verbs with gutturals or weak letters ( n in first root position, y and w in first or second root position, identical second and third root letters) as radicals, which produce modifications in the conjugation, in contrast to the strong verb. In Greek, a tense stem formed by adding a suffix to the verb stem or root.

If you discover obvious errors (as I am human, and do make mistakes), please let me know. Do not contact me to argue about the doctrinal differences that you may have with my teaching. I do not argue Theology with anyone, so all Legalists, cultists, and others with extremist views, please save your (and my) time. If you want to discuss your doctrinal differences, or share a viewpoint, please contact me at Didaskalos Ministries. I am not so arrogant as to think I know it all, or even 1% of what the scripture teaches.

Among the historical Books of the Bible, all fall within one of two categories: Major or Minor Prophets. There are four Books that are classified as "Major Prophet" works: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. The remaining Books, often called "the Twelve", which were kept on a scroll by themselves, and are considered "Minor Prophet" works. Major and Minor Prophet works are not so named because of their greater and lesser importance, but based upon the volume of work within the Book.

Who were the "Prophets"? Well, the office of the Prophet was given to Israel in:

Deuteronomy 18:17-22  "And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.  I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.   And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.  And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?  When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him."

The prophet was given to Israel to speak for God, to be His mouthpiece on the earth. If the Israelites refused to hear the word of the Prophet, then it was the same as refusing to hear the Word of God, and He would bring punishment on them. It is this same prophetic charge that establishes the office of the New Testament Pastor-Teacher. Too many Christians today believe in ignoring their Pastors in order to follow their own heart. Take heed of the destruction and chastisement of Israel, and realize that He who established the Prophet also establishes the Pastor-Teacher!

Four words are used in the Old Testament to describe the Prophet.

1 Samuel 9:9  "(Before time in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was before time called a Seer.)"

The Prophet was called a seer or RA'AH, one who gazed or looked, by extension, into the future. The prophet often saw future events, and told these to Israel for warnings, to lead to repentance. The Prophet was also called NABIY', or "Prophet", which means "one who speaks on behalf of another". The Prophet spoke on behalf of God.

2 Kings 4:7  "Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest."

The Prophet was also known as a "man of God". The character of the Prophet was Godly. He did not sell his office, nor perform his duties for any reason other than to honor the Father. The calling of the Prophet was from God. The Prophet was placed in his office by the Creator of all, and only God had the right or authority to depose him from this office. Finally, his ministry was of God. He could not and would not be a Prophet when he departed from God's will. In the same vein, while he served God to mock, ignore, or humiliate the Prophet was to invite death or extreme punishment from God (remember 2 Kings 2.23-24 the next time you mock your pastor-teacher).

Ezekiel 3:17  "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me."

The Prophet was also called the "watchman" or TSAPHAH. The watchman was one who stood on the walls of a city and shouted out warnings if he saw the enemy approaching. Likewise, the Prophet (and your Pastor-Teacher) stood on the wall of Israel and shouted out warnings against apostasy (see also Eze 33.7; Jer 6.17; 2.1).

The Prophets also had "schools" that gathered around them (1 Samuel 10.5-13; 2 Kings 3.12; 6.1). These schools or "lay ministers" often took messages from the Prophets and carried them out to the people. The Prophet never "trained" the members of the Schools to become Prophets themselves - either God gave the gift of Prophecy, or He didn't. The Gift itself came from God. A preacher does not become a preacher by graduating from Seminary. No, either he has the Gift from God, or he doesn't. If he does have the Gift, Seminary can help him wield that Gift so as to honor God, but Seminary does not and will never make a Preacher, a Pastor, or a Prophet. Only God does this.

The Prophet was different from the Priest of Israel. The Prophet spoke for God to the people, whereas the Priest represented the people before God.

There are several things that need to be highlighted about the Prophet's message. First, his message was from God. If his message was other than that of God's Word, then while speaking otherwise he stepped outside of his role as prophet. Second, the Prophet existed to be a channel of special revelation from God. 3800 times in Scripture we have the phrase, "thus saith the Lord". The test of the message was whether it came to pass or not (Deuteronomy 18.18-22). There are eleven major religions in the world today, but it is interesting to note that the Bible is the only sacred writing that places a test on its content. The test of reliability is that the Scripture is fulfilled, the prophetic utterances come to pass. When a near prophecy is given, a far prophecy is also given. The near prophecy is fulfilled, which gives credence to the far prophecy.

The Prophetic Message always had two parts: a "forth telling" and a "foretelling". When the Prophet "foretold", he told about coming future events. These events all had something to do with:

The "forth telling", just like the Pastor-Teacher's message today, was given to:

Isaiah 1:1  "The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah."

In the Hebrew text the Book is merely called "Isaiah" (Yesha`yah, "Jehovah has saved"), taken from the first verse of the text. Isaiah is considered "The Priest of the Old Testament Prophets". His diction and imagery is unparalleled in the Old Testament, and he was something of a "Billy Graham" or "Billy Sunday" of his time. He was allowed access into the throne rooms of the Kings, as well as into the poorest of households.

The authorship of the Book is disputed by liberalism, who believe the Book is authored in three parts:

Liberalism always looks for some way to water down or diminish Scripture, so it is not that amazing that they attack Isaiah. However, the traditional view of the Jews (who were the sacred guardians of all things of God, even the writings) was and is that Isaiah was written by Isaiah. Liberalism presupposes that there were "two Isaiahs", but the Jews do not show this in their histories.

Also, there are internal evidences that the Book is entirely a work from Isaiah. The phrase "the holy One of Israel", a phrase that occurs only in Isaiah's writings, occurs 12 times in the first half of the book and 14 times in the last half of the book. In the last half of the book:

Isaiah 62:6  "I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence"

... the walls of Jerusalem are supposed to be standing. If this was a postexile writing, then the walls of Israel would not be standing, for the walls were destroyed during the Babylonian invasion. These walls were not built until the days of Nehemiah, when Cyrus released the Jews to their homeland. The conclusion: the entire Book was written prior to the exile, by the one and only Isaiah the Prophet!

Isaiah 1:1  "The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah."

The Prophet had a vision that was applicable to both Judah and Jerusalem, both of which are in Southern Israel. Obviously Isaiah was located in this area, the Southern Kingdom of Israel.

Isaiah prophesied through the reign of four kings, from 790 BC - 686 BC. He may not have lived during the entirety of these reigns, as he could have come to office at the end of the first reign and died at the beginning of the last reign. All of these kings, though, were sitting on the Davidic Throne.

Isaiah was not the only Prophet in Israel at this time. In Southern Israel, Micah prophesied while Isaiah prophesied. In Northern Israel Hosea was prophesying. In fact, Isaiah is prophesying while Northern Israel falls under Assyrian invasion (722 BC).

Northern Israel had aligned herself with Syria, in an attempt to destroy Judah. Judah, in order to protect herself, turns to Assyria. Isaiah comes on the scene when Israel begins feeding on itself and preaches "Do not do this, but trust in the Lord - He will see you through. Jehovah is salvation".  When man trusts in man's power, only failure will come. If we learn to trust in God and not in our own buildup of horses and armies, God will prevail for us.

The theme found in Isaiah is very similar to what is happening in our world today. Much of the Church has turned away from God's Word, and has promoted pluralism and compromise with the world. In so doing it has lost its effectiveness, and its ministers stand in fear of judgment. God will be vindicated, God will reign supreme. God will raise up Isaiahs in our day to proclaim truth. God willing, I pray the Church heed the message!

The outline of Isaiah is as follows:

A. The first 35 chapters give prophetic condemnation. God condemns the nation as it stands in apostasy.

1. Chapters 1-12: Prophecies concerning Judah and Jerusalem

2. Chapters 13-23: Prophecies concerning the surrounding nations

3. Chapters 24-35: Prophecies concerning the judgment and blessing of God on both nations and Israel.

1. Chapters 36-37: The story of Hezekiah's trouble and triumph. His joining with the Assyrians, and deliverance from them.

2. Chapters 38-39: Isaiah prophecies, seeing Babylon rising on the horizon. Hezekiah's sickness, and the lengthening of his life. Hezekiah was visited by the King of Babylon, who desired to see the glory of Israel. Hezekiah, instead of showing the King of Babylon the Lord, took him to the treasury and showed off his riches. Because of this God had Southern Israel carried off into captivity.

1. Chapters 40-48, God's Sovereignty and the Restoration of Israel is foretold. The consolation is that Israel shall be restored.

2. Chapters 49-57: Israel's salvation and restoration is noted. God is noted to be the Savior.

3. Chapters 58-66: God's security and the restoration of Israel. Israel will be restored, but will only remain so if it keeps its confidence in God. The Millennial Reign of Christ is discussed.

Isaiah 8:1 "Moreover the LORD said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man's pen concerning Mahershalalhashbaz."

The name "Mahershalalhashbaz" means "speed to the spoil, hurry to the prey". God's point was before the child was old enough to say "Daddy", Northern Israel would be carried away into captivity. This child would then be a signpost, much like Methuselah was, of coming judgment.

Isaiah 7:3  "Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field"

Likewise, Isaiah's other son, "Shearjashub", meaning "a remnant shall return", promised by his name that there would be a day when Israel would return from exile. The first son is named after the first half of the Book, the second after the second half, and Isaiah's name itself (Jehovah saves) preaches the entire theme of the Book.

There are also four great "servant passages" in the Book: 42.1-4; 49.1-6; 50.4-9; 52.13-chapter 53. These passages are rich in devotional value, and also beg the question "Who is the Servant?". These are beautiful passages that refer to our Lord Jesus Christ.

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